by Daniel Cote

Created on: February 04, 2009

By traditional standards, the New York Mets are a young franchise. They were an expansion franchise added to the National League in 1962. Just seven years later, the "Amazin' Mets," as they became know, won their first World Series Championship. Twenty-four years later, they won their second World Series Championships against the Boston Red Sox. Most of their all-time best players played on one of these two teams as the Mets have had little success otherwise. Their all-time best players include Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, flame thrower Nolan Ryan, fellow pitcher Jerry Koosman, Darryl Strawberry, and Dwight "Doc" Gooden.

Tom Seaver began his career in 1967 and spent the next ten years as a member of the New York Mets. Seaver is considered by many to be the all-time greatest player in Mets history. During his ten years with the Mets, Seaver won the 1967 Rookie of the Year Award, three Cy Young Awards, was selected to ten straight all-star teams, and was twice voted The Sports News Pitcher of the Year. He played a vital role in the success of the 1969 Miracle Mets team that won the World Series. For his career, Seaver finished with a record of 311-205, and ERA of 2.86, and 3,640 strikeouts. Seaver was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992 receiving an astonishing 98.8% of the votes.

While Nolan Ryan is better known for his days with the California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers, he began his career with the New York Mets. He was first brought up to the major leagues in 1966 for a short time, but did not return until 1968. Ryan was mainly used as a reliever with the Mets due to their all star rotation that featured Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. Ryan was a key contributor on the 1969 team that won the World Series. He recorded his first playoff win in game 3 of the NLCS and recorded a save in game 3 of the World Series. This would be his only World Series appearance. Ryan was traded in 1971, along with three other players, to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi, in what is one of the worst trades in baseball history.

Jerry Koosman played the majority of his career with the New York Mets from 1967-1978. In his first season in the starting rotation, Koosman recorded a 19-12 record, with seven shutouts and an ERA of 2.08. These were all franchise records previously held by Tom Seaver. Koosman and Seaver combined to create a lethal pitching duo in 1969 as they led the Mets to the World Series Championship. During his career, Koosman was selected

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